Vacuum line with trap for milking machines



Dec. 7, 1954 E. DOMINGO 2,696,193

VACUUM LINE WITH TRAP FOR MILKING MACHINES Original Filed July 9, 1948 fave/2hr E/m/ Dom/i2 0 5 "em bf mjwa yw J United States Patent VACUUM LINE WITH: TRAP FOR MILKING:

. MAGHINES EmiltDumingo, New York, N.

1 cl im. (01.; 119 -14-.01

My invention relatesto milking: apparatus of the. character, disclosed.- in my copending; application, Serial; No. 37,909, filed July 9, 19.48,. of; Which. this, is. a divisional application;

Although there are many types, ofvacuum-operated milking machines in wide use, there seemsv tosbe the common failing that eaclr system. permits contaminated drippings from the vacuum.lines,.from the air, hose from the; rubber inflation, from the. pulsator,. and from other partsof: the system. tov fallinto the milk, thereby impairing the: quality of the milk and:in. many cases pr.o. viding; a. health hazard; for the: consumer:

It, is, accordingly, an object of theinventionto provide, an. improved milking. apparatus. wherein. the above-indi+ catedlpossible sources of contaminationmaybe complete:-- ly-eliminated', so that. higher. quality milk may be more consistently obtained. and sothat health. hazards may be. substantially reduced.v

It is another objectto, provide an improved; milking apparatus. wherein drippingscannot. accumulate to. a dangerous. extentin the vacuum lines.

- It is an object to meet the above objects. with a: simple. apparatus in which a clear visual check may bemade on such drippings as may be accumulated in critical: parts of the vacuumsystem.

It: is a specific object to provide a milking system.

meetinghthe. above objects and at the. same. time em.

ploying as much as. possiblev of the equipment now in use, whereby minimum modificationneedbe. involved.

Other objects. and various further features of the invention will be pointed out orwill occur to. those skilled: in the art froma reading of the. following specification in. conjunction with the accompanying drawings, In said drawings, which show, for; illustrative purposes only, a preferred form 0f th6 iI1V11tl011=Z Fig. 1: is a more or less diagrammatic view of apart ofi a. milk barn in which there is installed a vacuum operated: system incorporating features of the invention;

Fig. 2 isan enlarged view. in partial section of a milking apparatus, which may be one of a number connected: tothe system-of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3' isa fragmentary enlarged sectional. viewofi another part ofthesystem of'Fig. 1;

Briefly stated, my invention contemplates the employment of suitable trap means in, a vacuum-operated milking system for assuringthat there can be noreturn flow 2,696,193 Patented Dec. 7, 19.54

or pipe 19,. extending generally horizontally and. includ ing al cock; 2.0 with a. suitable outlet or fittingat, each; stanchion. position, for operation of themilking apparatus. at; eachparticular, stanchion location. At. the cross vval ks, 164.7, the vacuum. line 19. may be. raised, as at. 2.14 2,, in order to permit. suflicient head clearance, and the vacuumline 19,-may-be evacuated by eonventionalpumg. ing equipment 23; Inthe form shown, the raisedgpipe; connection 22; supplies. an.-additiona1 cock-24 in, the milk shed or cooler 18, for, useof thevacuum supply in-clean,-. ing; certain parts ofthe apparatus.

At any particulan stanchion position the, milking: ap paratus may; bemore, or. less, conventional and may-he operated by. a removable rubber-hose connection. to the; open end of the vacuum outlet, as guarded by the cock; 20. Eor purposes; of simplicity, the milking; apparatus is. shown in Fig. 2' toinclude only one teat; cup 215 hay, ing a direct inflation-hose connection 27- toa. pulsator; 28 and containing; arubber inflation 29 with. a: direct'milk connection 36;. to a: milk-inlet fitting. 31-, carried; by the; cover 32 .of a milk pail: 35. Thepulsator unit; 2 8.mayinclude a customary; check valve 43. To complete the. system, there is. a vacuum: connection, between the supplyline 1-9. and. the interior of the milk pail. 33, and! in the; forms ShOV-ni this. connection: is byway of the vacuum, chamber or chest of: thepulsator 28.

n; acwr a ce wi h. fee-tum of: the invention. described; and claimed in my copending application Serial Not. 31,909, L provide: trap, means; between. the milk pail! 33 on one side, and thepulsator. 2-8,,inflationhose 217', vacuum; hose 2,5,. and; check valve 4.3. In. the form; shown in. Fig. 2 this trapissupponted; by bracket means 3:4; secured: to the; milk-pail cover 3.2. The trap may include a vessel 35. preferably; removably secured; as by a bayonet lit, to at coverli; carried; by the bracket 34;. -A first connection. 37 to the trap may extend from. the insideor'the top of: the cover. 3.2: to the inside. of the. top of the trap. A second connection 33: to the. trap. preferably extends to a; lower; part. of the trap. and connects: said; lower. part with. the vacuum chest 39: of the 'pulsator; 28; The trap. ves.-.

. sol 3.5. and its cover; or.- closure, 36 may be sealed. by-

suitable gasket means. 36..

It mayhem be. noted: that the pulsatorZS; is shown only schematically because such. devices. are well known and in. Wide: use. It will be. understood that the vacuumchest 39; is; constantlyi exposed; to the vacuum? line andi of drippings or'other-fluid accumulations from the vacuum v end or from the air-inlet end of the system back into the milk pailt In the forms to be described, I may employ such trap means in the normalvacuum connection between the pulsator and the milk pail as is described and claimed inmy copending application Serial No. 37,9-"39. Further trap means may be installed between the vacuum line and the connection to the pul'sator so as to prevent the direct flow of; fluid accumulations in said line back to the milk pail.

Referring to. Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, I show my invention as applied to a vacuum system installed in a milk house having plurality of stanchion positions or stations 10-11-12-13-14-15. These positions may be arranged in groups, such as the group of stanchion positions 10 through 14, and the groups may be separated by cross walks, such as the cross walk 16 between stanchion positions 14-15. At an end of the milk house there may be another cross walk 17 adjacent and leading to a milkcooler shed or room 18. All stanchion positions it) through 15 may be supplied by a common vacuum line that appropriately interlocked and cooperating valve meansdilc-dzl. may alternately expose a secondchest 42 within the pulsaton 23 first to. an evacuated pressure and their. tov atmospheric pressurein order to achieve the desired; operation of-the rubber inflation 2);- the alternating cycle between. these pressures may recur at asteadyrate ofi to pulsations. per minute. if acheck valve is to. be employed. in the system, it is preferably a located at a level: above. the. levcli'at which the connection; 38, may draw fluid fromthe trap. chamber 35-, and; also. above the level: at which the flexible vacuum hose 25.: is connected. tothe pulsatorvacuum chest 39-; in the. form of Fig. 2-, a check-valve member 43 is seated within the lower pul'sator chest 39 and the upper end of; the evacuating. connection 33.

in accordance: with a feature ofthe present invention, fiurther trapmeansmay been'lployed between the vacuuml-ine. 1h and the vacuum. connection of the pulsator 2'8, and; such trap means. may conveniently be mounted. and held; at the connection of the aircock 2'0 to the line 19L Again, ll preferthat a part of the trap be removable, and in, the form shown I employ aglass jar 45, which may be a so=calledl Mason canning jar, so that clear 'observation may be had of any accumulation of fluids in the jar 45. For convenience, the cover 46 for the jar 45 may be of metal and fixedly mounted at a stanchion. outlet. The cover 46 may carryan inlet fitting 47 and a pipe 4?; connected to the cock 2t) and extending to a lower part of the bottle or jar 45. The inlet connection 4-7 preferably discharges into jar 45 at a level Well above the4lvel at which the pipe 48 may draw fluid from the ar Normally, fluids which may include milk, condensation products, dirt, and contaminated solids may accumulate in various parts of the described system. One source of whenever the valve 41 is open, and they may then accu-.

mulate around the check valve 43 in the lower. pulsator chamber 39.- With each pulsing cycle of the pulsator.

the check valve 43 may be momentarily unseated, and, were it not for the trap means which I have deviced, small but dangerous quantities of the described contaminated fluid could flow into the pipe 38, only to drip directly into the milk pail 33. It will be understood that with my trap, however, the drippings may be discharged into the vessel 35 for subsequent removal down the rubber hose'25 by suction.

Normally, the rubber-hose connection 25 from the pulsator 28 to the stanchion vacuum outlet will, due to its length and weight, be flexed downward before rising to the stanchion-outlet connection. This dip from the outlet of the pulsator may provide another location for the accumulation of dangerously contaminated fluids, as indicated schematically by the reference numeral 49. Further contaminated fluids, including contaminated milk that may have been pumped into the vacuum-supply system when a pail 33 was allowed to become too full, may accumulate in the vacuum-supply pipe 19 itself, and the level of such an accumulation of fluid is schematically indicated at 50.

Now, it frequently occurs in the operation of a milk house, with equipment such as that which has been described, that a vacuum hose, such as the hose 25, is carelessly removed from a stanchion connection or cock 20 without shutting off the cock. Such careless removal will be understood immediately to collapse the vacuum so as to admit atmospheric air into the vacuum line 19. If this carelessness should have occurred, say, at the stanchion position 14, it will be appreciated that there may be such a rush of atmospheric air into the vacuum system as to pick up the fluid 50 within the vacuum line 19 and completely to fill the pipe 19 with such fluid. The fluid will then be rapidly sucked in a wave down the vacuum line 19 and towards the pumping apparatus 23. As the wave of fluid created by this disturbance passes successive stanchion outlets, say the outlet for the stanchion position 12, there is opportunity for a substantial flow of fluid back toward the pail 33 at the stanchion position 12, and, were it not for my provision of the traps 45, such flow could occur. It will be understood, however, that a trap 45 may be of suflicient capacity (a one-quart glass canning jar is preferred, for its ready availability at most farm houses) to contain all the fluid 50 that may be forced into the apparatus at the stanchion position 12 by a disturbance of the character indicated. The same safety feature may be said to characterize the trap 45 at each of the succeeding stanchion positions 11-10, and it will be appreciated that all traps 45 may be adequate to contain any onrush of contaminated fluid.

For emphasis, I have indicated how carelessness may be the cause of the pumping fluids into the various milking equipments, for entrapment in traps 45. The implication may be that traps 45 are useful primarily as a precaution against carelessness, but this is certainly not the case. The same type of disturbance may also arise under the most carefully controlled circumstances whenever another milk pail is connected to the vacuum line 19, for it will be appreciated that until the interior of the pail 33 (and other parts of each equipment) is evacuated, there is a relatively large supply of air at atmospheric pressure available to disturb the fluids in line 19 when the cock 20 is opened.

Upon restoration of a steady vacuum in line 19, there may be an oversupply of fluid 50 in the vacuum line 19. To anticipate this eventuality I provide, in accordance with another feature of the invention, for automatically drawing off this excessive fluid. In Fig. 3, I show how a further trap 52 may be included in the vacuum line 19 at the pump end of the group of stanchion outlets 20. The vacuum line 19 may be bent downwardly and fixedly secured to a cover 54 from which the trap 52 may be readily removed, and an exhaust connection 53 to the vacuum pump 23 may also be secured to the cover 54. To facilitate inspection of accumulations in the trap vesesl 52, I prefer that this vessel be a glass jar and, for the size installation shown, a standard gallon bottle with a screwcap mouth may be perfectly adequate.

Should the indicated type of disturbance occur in the stanchion group which begins with stanchion position 15, it will be appreciated as being desirable that such disturbance should not reflectupon operation of the milking apparatus in use at one or more of the stanchion positions 1014. To offset the effects of such a disturbance a further trap 55 like the trap 52 may be installed in the vacuum line just before the rise 21 over the cross walk 16. In this manner, it will be clear that each group of stanchion positions may be served by the same vacuum line While drip accumulationsv in. the line for each bank of stanchion positions may be held to a minimum.

It will be appreciated that I have described an ingenious but relatively simple improvement for milking apparatus. The improvement may provide assured isolation of the fresh milk from a number of sources of contamination, thus not only making possible the maintenance of consistently high quality in the collected milk but also reducing a health hazard. My improved system provides a means for draining contaminated accumulations so that these accumulations may not become dangerously large, and a visual check of the accumulations is at all times possible. Perhaps the most important feature of the improvement is its ready adaptability to existing systems with little or no structural change.

While I have described my invention in detail for the preferred forms shown, it will be understood'that modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

In a vacuum pail-type milking machine system including a vacuum pump, a vacuum pipe line connected to the suction side of said pump and running the length of a row of stalls, a plurality of stanchion hoses adapted to be detachably connected at intervals to the pipe line for supplying vacuum to a plurality of milking machines, and stall cocks for controlling communication between the pipe line and said stanchion hoses, the improvement which comprises a trap means operatively connected to the pipe line intermediate said line and each stanchion hose, said trap means comprising a receptacle, a cover member therefor, and inlet and outlet tubes depending from said cover member into said receptacle and communicating with a stanchion hose and said pipe line, respectively, the relative length and the arrangement of said tubes being such that said trap means is operative to induce flow of milk drawn into said stanchion hose to the pipe line and positively to prevent backflow of said milk or liquid impurities from said pipe line to said stanchion hose.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,398,230 I Hall Nov. 29, 1921 1,559,315 Daysh Oct. 27, 1925 1,718,822 Hulbert June 25, 1929 2,451,456 Rawson Oct. 12, 1948 2,456,276 Harstick Dec. 14, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 595,875 Great Britain Dec. 19, 1947 

